Bottlenose
by sinemoras09
Summary: You will find me generous. Friends with benefits. Natasha/Loki. No spoilers


.

.

They were standing in the locker room, Natasha toweling off her hair and pulling on a shirt, when Thor entered and loudly closed the locker door.

"You should come with us!" Thor said. Natasha watched as he slung a towel over his shoulder, grinning broadly. "The evening will be resplendent with colors, and Lady Jane assures me these 'fireworks' will be quite a show."

"Thanks, but no," Natasha said. "I appreciate the gesture, but you know what they say about being the third wheel..."

"I do not understand," Thor said, and Natasha made a mental note to avoid earthling colloquialisms. "It will not be three, my lady. By my count there will be four-"

"So you're inviting Clint," Natasha said. If Natasha remembered rightly, Clint was still angry over the whole bow-breaking incident ("The idiot snapped it in half!" Clint said. Natasha laughed her ass off for _days_), and idly she wondered if this was a ham-fisted attempt at making amends.

It wasn't: "If the fellow wants, he is most certainly welcome! But then that would make five, and I hear Five is Company." Thor seemed ridiculously proud of the reference. "Of course, if you are endeavoring to make my brother jealous, Agent Barton is most certainly welcome."

"Wait, back up," Natasha said. "Your brother?"

"Why yes," Thor said, and he was all puppies and confusion before he clarified, "I had assumed, since you have coupled."

Natasha blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I only mean to say you are romantically involved," Thor said. "Jane tells me 'coupling' has a different meaning in this realm, but I do not mean it in that way. Forgive me my vulgarity," Thor said, quickly. "I know you endeavor to keep your union secret, but fear not. You will have no more discreet an ally as I."

Natasha stared. And stared. And stared until Thor seemed to squirm uncomfortably, wringing the towel in his hands.

"We are not a couple," Natasha said.

"My lady, there's no reason to hide! The way he looks at you speaks the truth," Thor said. "Though I know not why you would keep this a secret. His face lights up when you enter the room."

"You're kidding," Natasha said, and Thor's eyes widened.

"Perhaps I am mistaken!" Thor said, and Natasha raised an eyebrow, Thor barreling forward with all his force: "Perhaps he is not in love with you, but rather appreciates you in a purely physical way-"

Natasha raised both her eyebrows this time, staring as Thor fumbled even worse.

"Not that you are not attractive, my lady," Thor said. "I only mean to say that my brother most likely finds you so, given how he looks at you, and how he sometimes smiles to himself at the dead of night...I speak too much," Thor said. His face was red. "Please do not think him ill. I am most likely mistaken."

"You definitely are," Natasha said, and once again she wished that there wasn't a co-ed locker room.

xXx

.

They were fucking against the table, Natasha's arms flung backward and one leg shoved up against Loki's shoulder. The legs of the table wobbled against the floorboards as he pounded into her, fast and hard, and Natasha could feel the edge of the table digging uncomfortably against her butt. "Fuck," Natasha said, and Loki groaned, moving in long, erratic strokes. "I'm sliding off."

"Sorry." The words were mumbled against her neck as he propped her back up again, slamming against her with one disordered thrust. Her bare foot slid against the floor and she nearly skidded sideways, the weight of Loki's body pinning her against the table. "_Shit_," Natasha said, and the word was a long-drawn hiss, "I'm gonna come," and Loki made a noise, something between a grunt and a gasp, the muscles of his arms shaking with the effort to keep her upright.

Afterwards, Natasha fixed her hair and reapplied her lipstick, Loki standing behind her and adjusting his tunic. For him it had taken a mere snap of the fingers before he was presentable again, but a telltale strand of hair fell over his eyes, which he brushed back, quietly.

How long had they been doing this? At first it had been a power play, one enemy sneering as the other bared their fangs. It didn't help that Loki initially disguised himself at first, gaining her trust and friendship before revealing himself: he stood at the foot of her bed, smirking at her, as she felt her insides twist. Angry, hateful, pissed off sex was the result, palms shoved flat against damp skin and bare chests, fucking each other as if it'd hurt. Eventually, the months passed, and somehow Loki found himself aligned on the same team. The sex, while still rough and bruising, was more accessible now, and Natasha suddenly found herself with an easy outlet. Bad day at work? Loki. Botched assassination attempt? Loki. Even when Clint would look at her the wrong way, trusting eyes and puppy-faced, Natasha would shove Loki hard against the mattress, whacking his head against the headboards and leaving scratch marks into his skin.

"Thor is going to see the fireworks," Natasha said. A calculated move. She looked up, waiting to read Loki's expression. "He's taking Jane. He invited me along. Asked me if I want to come."

"I believe you already did," Loki said, and Natasha snorted. "What? As if that wasn't the perfect set up," Loki said.

Natasha rolled her eyes and sat up from the bed, expertly pinning her hair at the nape of her neck. "I'm thinking of bringing Clint," Natasha said. She glanced back at him, then smoothed her hair. "You could probably tag along, but I don't think Clint would appreciate that."

"I told him it was not personal," Loki sniffed. "A god has no quarrel with lesser beings. Surely the mule should not resent its master."

"Clint is not a mule."

"Quite right. He is an ass with a broken bow."

"Be nice," Natasha said, and Loki grinned. It was strange: they fucked as though they had stakes to claim, but lately their interactions were less caustic.

"I am always 'nice,'" Loki said, and he grinned against her ear. She felt him pinch the side of her hip, playfully. "Perhaps, once you've grown bored with him, you'll come around again?"

"Loki," Natasha said. A warning in her voice. Loki pulled back, frowning.

"Forgive me. I know how you feel about him," Loki said. Quiet. Sincere. "Until the next time, yes?"

Natasha nodded. "Goodnight," she said, and Loki smiled, magic shimmering then fading into the dark.

xXx

.

"Oh _fuck_-"

Natasha gasped, the word bitten off. She was slammed up against the wall, standing on one tip-toe with her other leg hooked across Loki's arm. He was practically holding her up as they fucked, skin scraping hard against the plaster as her toes slid against the damp wood, her mouth open and slack as she panted harsh, guttural sounds. Her knee buckled and her foot flattened, Loki slipping out with a wet, slick pop.

They moved to the bed where it was easier, Loki moving with slow, deliberate strokes. There were scratches on Natasha's skin, big red marks from the pressure from the wall, which Loki soothed with cool fingers, drawing gentle circles on her skin. One slow thrust upwards, and Natasha quivered, edging toward orgasm and straining her neck upwards; Loki grinned, then kissed the tip of her nose, letting his thumb dip against the swell of her upper lip. A cupid's bow, Natasha thought, delirious, eyes rolling as the sound of wet flesh slapping against wet flesh filled the room.

"Do you know," Loki said, conversationally, after Natasha had come and Loki had spilled inside her, "You make the most exquisite face when you orgasm. Rather entertaining, really."

"Oh?" Natasha said, and Loki grinned, then shapeshifted into her, red-faced and ravished and the tops of her breasts flushed with sex.

"You roll your eyes, like so," Loki-as-Natasha said, and he imitated Natasha's O-face, eyes rolling backward and face twisting, inelegantly.

"Shut up," Natasha said, but Loki grinned and kissed her, smiling against her skin. "You're not so good-looking either, you know."

"Of course not," Loki said. "I believe the term is _other-worldly_. A beauty so astonishing as to not be comprehended by mere mortals. Angelic, really," Loki said, and Natasha laughed.

"Stop," Natasha said, and she caught Loki's eyes.

The first time she had seen him, really looked at him, she had seen nothing but malice. Cruelty, arrogance, sharp and biting. His eyes could cut like daggers if he wanted, but now they were soft, unguarded. He smiled at her with his eyes.

Moments passed, and despite herself Natasha's mind snapped back to the meeting in the gym. _"Do not be hard on him," Thor said. He looked up at Natasha, pleadingly. "He may give a hardened front, but my brother has a tender heart, tricks and lies aside."_

_"Your brother is fine," Natasha said. "We have a working relationship. Nothing more."_

Natasha frowned, and Loki seemed to sense her disquiet, because he shifted to look at her. "What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing," Natasha said. "I was just wondering...this thing between us-" Natasha gestured. "It's just sex, right?"

"Feeling insecure, are we?" Loki said. Natasha met his eyes and frowned.

"I'm just saying, if there's feelings or anything involved, maybe we should just stop."

"What do you think?" Loki said, and his hand gripped between her legs. Natasha's mouth popped open, the pads of his fingers pressed down against her clit. "As far as I'm concerned," Loki said, and he stroked her hard, fingers dipping inside her and sliding over the button of flesh, "you are just something to pass the time."

And he lowered himself, nipping at her clit and resting his mouth against her mound.

"Wait," Natasha said, gasping at the sudden moist, warm sensation of his mouth. "Wait a sec, I'm serious-"

She cut off with a moan, the feel of his tongue suckling the pearly bundle of nerves making her see stars, when he lifted his head with an audible pop. Natasha looked down again, and Loki smiled, delicately wiping the side of his mouth with his hand.

"Thor says you're in love with me," Natasha said, watching him as he propped himself back up on his elbows, rearranging himself back on the bed. "He asked me about it the other night."

"Thor is an idiot," Loki said. He moved up to Natasha's length, settling her into his arms. "His life is caught up in flowers and romance. It is only natural for him to project it on everyone else."

"Then...you're not?"

Loki snorted. "Does the man who lies with the goat fall in love with its flock?"

"I don't know what's worse: that you compared me to a goat, or that you compared yourself to the guy who fucks them," Natasha said, and Loki grinned.

"Well you are much nicer than a goat," Loki said. "Admittedly so, in fact."

"What a charmer," Natasha said, and Loki smiled against her neck, giving her a soft kiss behind her ear.

xXx

.

She finally worked up the nerve to tell Clint a few weeks later: "I'm sleeping with Loki, but if it's gonna be weird for you, let me know, because honestly I don't really care."

Clint didn't exactly approve, but he didn't stop her either, only slightly raising his eyebrows when Natasha announced that Loki was her plaything, thankyouverymuch, and she was very much capable of handling herself. "Can you spare me the specifics?" Clint said, while Natasha grinned and laughed in his face. "Please?"

"What? I can't tell my best friend the dirty details?"

"I am not a girl," Clint said, and he slung his quill across his shoulder, glaring. Once again Natasha was grateful for his friendship, the one semi-normal thing she continued to have. Super assassins and mutant spies? Fine. And even though she was knocking boots with a demi-god, Clint kept her grounded. Relatively speaking, anyway.

The days passed uneventfully, and Loki disappeared doing god-knows-what while the rest of the Avengers slummed it in the press, Stark and the captain righting upturned cars while Fury did press conferences for damage control. "We freaking saved the city," Stark said, annoyed, while Thor waved to the throngs of passers-by watching. "Why the hell anyone would be pissed at a little collateral damage is beyond me."

Because she had no super strength or super suits to speak of, Natasha stayed at their headquarters, sitting across from Jane and listening with half-feigned interest as the scientist spoke brightly about her research and about Thor. "It's amazing," Jane was saying. Natasha stirred her drink, nodding her head as Jane babbled, excitedly. "To think that the Lorentzian wormhole would exist, here, in our reality! I mean, they talked about it in 1988, what with the whole 'spherical exotic matter' postulate, but if you think about it, it's all just a bunch of baloney, right?"

Natasha blinked. "Yeah," Natasha said. Jane grinned.

"So! I hear you and Thor's brother are getting along," Jane said. Natasha stared.

"Who told you that?" Natasha said.

"Thor," Jane said. She smiled again, guileless and expectant. "So, are you two just friends, or...?"

_Or we just fuck for the hell of it, sometimes_, but Natasha didn't say that. "We enjoy each other's company," Natasha said. Jane smiled.

"I guess...well I was just curious, since not a lot of people like him," Jane said. "I mean, the guy was pretty psychotic. Threatening to take over the world like that. But I guess it was just a big temper tantrum, wasn't it? Because Thor said if Loki really wanted to, he would have gotten himself elected king of the world instead."

"Yeah, well," Natasha said. "Loki's crazy. What can I say?"

Jane smiled again, and Natasha tried not to get too irritated: she meant well, she was Thor's girlfriend and so she knew some of the more sordid details to the backstory between them. It wasn't surprising that Jane would be concerned.

"He's...tolerable," Natasha said, and Jane frowned at her. "I mean, he's not like Clint or anything. Just someone okay enough to be around."

"That's not very nice," Jane said. Natasha rolled her eyes. "Oh c'mon! You can't tell me you don't have feelings for the guy. Weren't you two, like, stranded together for a couple days?"

"What?"

"On the last mission," Jane said. "Thor told me." Natasha shrugged.

"Like I said," Natasha said, and Jane leaned forward, waiting expectantly:

"The guy's tolerable. That's about all."

xXx

.

Sometimes, she wondered if she considered Loki a friend.

They had a strange kind of friendship: when he infiltrated SHIELD, posing as another agent and striking up a friendship, it had started as a means to an end, Loki trying to find the secret codes and trying to gain Natasha's trust. It worked, but a little too well, because Loki had found he actually enjoyed her company. Not only that, but Natasha enjoyed his, once she got over the fact that he had tricked her into liking him, the ass: the sex itself was pretty incidental.

She didn't know how to explain it. When she first met him, he was something dangerous, feral and caged, vivisecting her with a few choice words. At the time, it was the most expedient - figure out his motives, find out his plan - laying out the pieces of herself, unprotected, for bait. For his part, Loki was impressed that a puny human mortal could outwit him, and so he afforded her a somewhat grudging respect. It had worked, but she still felt raw and somehow violated, not unlike those early missions as the Black Widow, letting herself be forcibly taken and raped before shoving a knife into her enemies' throats.

She was getting ready for bed, wearing nothing but underwear and a tank top, when the curtains lifted and Loki appeared at the front of the window. It didn't surprise her: in fact it was getting routine, Loki striding beside her to kiss the side of her face. And it wasn't unwelcome, either, how sometimes they didn't have sex. They would just lie there, as Loki was doing now, crawling into the covers and bunching her up like a child would his favorite toy. "What's with this?" Natasha said. It tickled her and she was smiling.

"I was bored," Loki said, and he shifted her close. "Say something entertaining."

"I don't know anything entertaining, let me sleep," Natasha said. Loki smiled, brushing back the strands of hair from her face.

"I was thinking," Loki said, speaking into her shoulder. "Perhaps I should try my hand at genocide again. It would make for great fun," Loki said. "Watching the mortals twist about like ants. I don't suppose you would mind?"

"You're asking my permission?" Natasha said.

"Not really," Loki said, and Natasha felt him idly stroking her back, the tips of his fingers dragging across her hip. "You haven't slightest idea how boring it is, being in exile like this. It is as if one such as yourself, with all your metropolitan sensibilities and fantastic fashion sense, were suddenly deposited in the midst of a very boring, very uninspiring desert. You'd panic at first, of course," Loki said. "But once the horror of your isolation wears off, you will start wishing for a challenge, if only to stave off the ennui."

"I don't really like deserts," Natasha agreed, and Loki nodded in approval.

They went for a walk. Mostly because Natasha couldn't sleep and Loki seemed to be in the mood, so Natasha let him walk beside her, shifting into a long coat and shirt unbuttoned at the collar. "You know how to dress," Natasha said, and she gave him one long look, appreciative and slightly impressed. Loki shrugged.

"Unlike my brother, I am not partial to plaids and long underwear," Loki said, and Natasha laughed. Thor tended to dress like an out-of-place lumberjack.

They walked. The streets were dark and empty and the light from the streetlamps seemed to puddle on the concrete around them. It was a nice night, warm and slightly humid, and there was the sound of crickets and the occasional car driving in the distance. The silence between them was a warm one, familiar and at ease, and Natasha walked with her hands shoved deep into her pockets, kicking a rock and watching it roll off the sidewalk and into the gutters on the ground.

"A pity I cannot take you to Asgard," Loki said, and Natasha looked up. "There are some nights that are so quiet, you can hear the sound of your own heart, if you listen. There are twin moons," Loki said. "And their reflection cast on the shadows of the realm are the most brilliant you will ever see."

"It sounds nice," Natasha said. She glanced back up at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "How long has it been, since you've been home?"

"I have no home," Loki said, and Natasha was silent again, watching as he walked, eyes fixed on some invisible point on the horizon. "Until recently, I had no one, save Thor. I had denounced him," Loki said. "But he is my brother, if not by blood, and the fool would willingly kill himself for the name of family. It was a responsibility I could no longer shirk."

He looked at her again, and Natasha could see how the shadows played on the angles of his face, the light of the street lamps ghosting his form. "How long has it been since you've been home?" he asked.

"I don't know," Natasha said. "It's been so long, I can't really remember." She kicked another rock, watching it roll and fall off the edge of the curb.

"Do you miss it?" Natasha asked. "Asgard?" Loki frowned at her and shook his head.

"I would answer," Loki said, "But tonight I do not wish to lie."

"Fair enough," Natasha said.

They walked a little further, their pace slowing. A car passed, its headlights cutting swaths of light through the dark. "Have you any family, then?" Loki asked. Natasha shook her head.

"Unless you count Clint, no, I don't," Natasha said. Loki nodded.

"And, if I were to suppose, your relationship with Barton is not unlike my relationship with Thor," Loki said. "Brothers, unbound by blood or kinship. Am I not wrong?"

Natasha glanced up at him, then looked back at the cracks in the ground. "I love Clint," Natasha said. "He's my family."

Loki nodded, suddenly quiet. They walked a few paces further, as if measuring out the silence between them. "And...if Barton were to ever confess to you. That he loved you _in that way_...Would you return his affections? I only ask because I'm curious," Loki said, reading her look. Natasha shook her head.

"It doesn't matter how I feel," Natasha said. "I'm not good enough for him. He deserves better than me. Someone undamaged," Natasha said. "Better."

"I see," Loki said, and he fell quiet. Their footsteps fell quietly on the cool pavement.

"Would it be better," Loki said, and he seemed to hesitate a moment, "If I took his form? Your friend, the archer's?"

"Why would you do that?" Natasha said, and Loki stepped close, turning to face her.

"Because I am generous," Loki said, and a slow hand dragged the tips of his fingers down the side of her cheek. "You could have him in every way that you imagined. And you could pretend that you love him," he said.

He was standing close, his face a finger's breadth away from hers, and if she tilted her head just so, she could brush her lips against his.

"Maybe," Natasha said, and she drew closer, speaking against his cheek. "Or maybe I can pretend to love you, instead."

She sensed it, his surprise and his hesitation, as if he wasn't sure if she was serious or if she was mocking him: Natasha wasn't sure, herself. "Well, it is a part of your craft," Loki said, and at once the moment vanished, that strange intimacy giving way to a comfortable space. "I should like to see you in action, sometime. Making your hapless victims fall in love with you."

"Do you want to see?" Natasha said. Loki raised his eyebrows.

"You can do this?" Loki said, and Natasha grinned and motioned for him to follow.

xXx

.

The victim they chose was typical for her: douchebag-loud investment banker, a visible tanline where a wedding ring should have been. Even though she was only wearing a tank top and sweats, Natasha shimmied forward, lips parted and breasts heaving beneath her shirt. She poured herself beside him, her body boneless and soft, smiling and touching him as he bought her drink after drink.

Later, when she showed Loki the wallet, grinning like a girl winning a spelling bee, Loki laughed, delighted, opening the wallet and perusing through the photographs of the douchebag's family. "His wife is atrocious," Loki sniffed. He waved the picture in front of her, frowning. "It is no wonder that he cheats."

"Don't be an ass," Natasha said, and she tucked the photograph back in. "I'm giving this back to him. I just wanted to show you what I could do."

"What? Push your breasts up in his face and distract him while you cup his-I was going to say wallet," Loki said, when Natasha smacked him on the arm. "You should use the money to buy us drinks," Loki said. "A celebratory dinner, perhaps. He deserves it. You know this."

"Ha ha," Natasha said, and she flagged the man down.

They sat on the rooftop, sharing a bag of peanuts and cracking open the shells. "Wait," Loki said, and he lifted a peanut shell. "Watch."

"What are you-" Natasha's eyes widened when the shell whizzed through the air, then knocked a passer-by on the forehead.

"A hit," Loki said, dramatically. "Do not tell me your archer can do better than this."

"Stop that," Natasha said, but Loki dropped another peanut shell, this time hitting a drunken college girl right in the cleavage. "Loki!"

"Come on. You cannot tell me you're not impressed," Loki said. Natasha rolled her eyes. "Well then let's see you try. I'd wager you'll not get within five feet of your victim, I promise you."

"Oh it's on," Natasha said, and she picked up a peanut shell.

As it turned out, Natasha's aim was just about as good as Loki's moral compass. "You are terrible," Loki said. Natasha frowned.

"Well not everyone can use magic to help them, you know," Natasha said.

"That is a low blow. Magic had nothing to do with it," Loki said. Natasha grinned, then leaned her cheek against his shoulder. His arm had found its way around her waist, and it felt nice, sitting on the rooftop like this. "You should have kept the wallet. Really, you humans and your pathetic moral codes-"

"Can you not talk, for just a second? Because I was really starting to enjoy myself."

"As was I," Loki said, and Natasha smiled.

They had sex in her apartment. Not the soul crushing, violent, desperate kind, but the kind that was warm and comfortable, a sort of prelude before going to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning, the bed was empty, and she tried to ignore the lump in her throat when she realized he was not there.

xXx

.

The days passed, and soon the string of uneventful days turned to weeks and then a full month before Natasha had seen Loki again, and only briefly: at a mission briefing, sitting at the back of the room, bored to tears and just barely paying attention to Fury's words.

She didn't say hi, and he didn't say hi either. He walked forward and she walked past him, and that was all there was to that.

"What's wrong?" Clint said, because Clint could always read her moods, weathering the PMS and the angry fucking migraines that would assault her senses and leave her raging for days. "Nat, what is it?"

"Nothing," Natasha said, and Clint's jaw tightened. "I'm just...I don't know. I'm just a little out of sorts, is all."

"Anything I can do to help?" Clint said, and Natasha shook her head.

"I'm fine," Natasha said, and she managed to dredge up a weak little smile.

xXx

.

She was carrying a stack of folders, more papers for Jane's research, when she saw Jane crying miserably in the hallway. "What happened?" Natasha said. Jane whimpered and shook her head, face red and blotchy and wiping back tears and snot.

"We got in a fight," Jane said, and her chin wobbled.

She ushered her to the lab, where she led Jane to a bench and sat her down. Then she set down her folders and busied herself looking for the coffee machine, pouring Jane a hot mug and setting it in front of her. "What happened?" Natasha said. Jane looked at her, miserably.

"Thor," Jane said. She sniffed, then blew her nose. "Thor almost...he almost broke up with me."

"Almost?" Natasha raised a brow. Jane sobbed again, hunching over her cup.

Apparently, Jane had walked in on Thor fighting with Loki. Not fight-fighting, with swords and hammers and things, but yelling fighting, the kind normal people do when they're upset. "I'd never seen him so mad," Jane said, and Natasha nodded, sympathetically. "They didn't know I was there, so I just kind of stood behind the doorway, listening."

They were fighting about Jane. _ "Forgive me, if I do not wish to see you get hurt," Loki said. "We feel time differently, you and I. How can you possibly keep up this charade when you know with one blink, she will be old, and after another, she will die?"_

"He told him to break up with me," Jane said. Tears rolled down her face. "And he said that he was right."

"But he didn't, right?" Natasha said, but her mind was spinning with the implications.

"No," Jane said. "I got mad at him. And he said he was his brother, he didn't mean us any harm."

Ah. Natasha understood. Baby brother was a touchy subject to Thor, who would move mountains and shatter stars to keep him safe. "Don't be upset," Natasha said. "Loki didn't mean it. He was probably talking about me."

"What?" Jane said. Natasha shook her head.

"He tends to project," Natasha said. "If he feels guilty about something, everyone is accusing him. If he feels insecure or inadequate, then everybody hates him. He can't help it," Natasha said.

"So, why would he make Thor break up with me? Why would he tell him our relationship won't work?" Jane said. Natasha rubbed her neck and frowned.

"Probably because he's convinced himself _our_ relationship won't work," Natasha said. Jane's eyes widened. "I know, I told you there wasn't anything, but I was lying," Natasha said. "Just...do you know where he is? I need to talk to him."

"He was with Thor," Jane said. Natasha stood.

"I promise, after I talk to him, I'm gonna smack him for making you cry," Natasha said.

"You don't have to get violent," Jane said, and Natasha frowned.

She really was a sweet kid. She could see why Thor fell in love with her.

xXx

.

Not surprisingly, trying to hunt down a god proved exceedingly difficult, even for someone of Natasha's caliber and skillset. She couldn't even find Thor, after tapping on the communicator and waiting for a response. "He's probably with Jane," Clint said helpfully, and Natasha frowned and paced and silently pondered at the capacity for human forgiveness, Clint long-ago filing Loki's mind control as a combat necessity.

"Hey," Natasha said, a few days later, and Clint sat beside her, opening a canteen of water and taking a slow swig. "How would you feel if I told you...if I told you I liked him?" she said. Christ. She was a goddamn teenager again.

She could see it, how Clint's eyes seemed to turn green under the fluorescent light. His body language was off: a little too graceful, a little too cat-like than Clint's normal mountain stiffness.

"Who?" Clint said, even though Clint should have already known since Natasha had talked about it before.

"Thor's brother," Natasha said, because she wasn't sure she'd be able to say his name without it starting to hurt. "I mean, the guy's a lunatic and an asshole, but we're on the same team, right? And he isn't all that bad."

Clint watched her silently, then turned an arrow over his hands.

"Are you happy?" Clint asked.

"Not right now," Natasha said, honestly. She looked up at him and thought she could catch it, the uncertainty and the thinly veiled hurt in his eyes. Acting on a hunch, she added, "He makes me happy, but he's too stupid to realize it."

"Is that right?" Clint said, and the accent slipped, then cracked, then quickly righted itself. "Maybe he got bored?"

_Or maybe he's not as good at impersonating my friends as he thinks he is_, Natasha thought, but she decided to save that for another time.

It was a week later when she saw him again. She was sleeping in her room when she felt it, the side of her bed sinking as someone climbed beside her.

"Miss me?" Natasha said, and Loki nodded against her back. She fell asleep again, and in the morning, she wasn't surprised when she found him still lying beside her, the corners of his mouth turned upwards in a little smile.

end.

* * *

**A/N: the last part is Loki pretending to be Clint, in case that wasn't clear :) **


End file.
